Recent reviews by Floyd

It's been a loooooong time I haven't been caught red-handed playing one of those addictive mobile - free-to-play - timer-based production games, but... I can't help it, it's worse than a never-ending box of pop-corn.

I found Global City being well made in a sense that it doesn't immediatly lock the gameplay behind a paywall. For the first hours, you have plenty of things to do (and the time and means to do them). Perhaps there is a little too much to do, because you level up reaaaally fast for the first few levels, and you unlock tons of new buildings. There really are TOO MANY buildings in the game, and you unlock them faster than you're able to afford them. So you will just pick the ones you like the most, or the ones you need for your tasks, and that's it (it's not necessarily a bad thing though, you can choose how your city looks like quite freely).

Of course, then comes a time when you have to wait for your resources to be ready to pick up. Those are real-time timers, and if the base resources take up to a few seconds to be ready, some advanced goods will require 30 or 45 minutes, and the buildings (at least the current buildings I've unlocked) can take up to 3 hours.
However the game offers so many different activities that the time passes rather quickly. Besides building your own city and organising it the way you like, there are : weekly events, tasks (that renew infinitely), trade/export (the main way of getting unique goods to upgrade all sorts of things), and probably the biggest appeal : projects. Basically there are plenty of different services/facilities (quarries, archaeological excavations, airport, highways...) to unlock on the map, that can be built progressively, and it's exciting to see them expand step by step. It's a very visual gameplay element and it makes your city surroundings come to life.

The whole game can be played without spending money if you have patience. There are mandatory pop-ups that remind you that you can spend real money for in-game goods/currency/premium packs, but surprisingly I haven't found them invasive as they can be in other similar games. Those negative reviews that say "unplayable without spending money" or "nothing to do after 10 minutes of gameplay" clearly aren't very honest to me.

Obviously there are still a few downsides. And this starts by the whole marketing of Global City that is based on blatant false advertising. I'm sure you've already seen one of those ads showing a mobile game that looks somewhat fun, but the actual game has nothing to do with what the ad showed? Global City is one of them. I saw an ad and downloaded the game on Steam, consciously knowing it would look nothing like what I'd seen (and thus I support this kind of practice despite myself; but I've never claimed to be perfect).

The game could help having a better view control. Global City has isometric graphics but you cannot turn the view (while 1999 Roller Coaster Tycoon allowed you to do that). The result is, you'll always build bigger buildings behind smaller ones, otherwise you won't see anything. And that somehow limits the way you can arrange your own city.

You NEVER get your money/resources back (not even a part of it) if you destroy a building. It's fine when you know it, but it's not explained. Same goes with the Global Exchange, a real-time marketplace where you can sell your goods and buy from other players. But if you decide to remove your offer from the market, not only you have to pay in-game currency for that, but you don't get your resources back! (it just empties the slot, which are in limited number). That's a bit disappointing.

The developers probably should spend a bit more time in the Steam forums because there are a tons of issues/suggestions related threads that are unanswered. The devs reply to all Steam reviews, so they're actually online (hello there!), but the forum is worth browsing too.

Anyway, this review is already too long for a game that's free. If I'm going to rate Global City, keeping in mind that it's free-to-play and you have nothing to lose to try it, I will happily leave a positive rating because... well, it's fun!

Don't be fooled by the cute graphics (Ankama Games art department did a stunning job there), FLY'N hides a devilish challenge!

You are Fly'n (at least in the first world), a plant-like creature summoned to save his world from an evil hairdryer that blows everything off their peaceful planet. Fly'n can run, double-jump and glide, and so can his companions that you will meet in the different chapters. But each of them has a unique ability, and you will be given the chance to switch between them as you need.

The gameplay could be compared to Super Meat Boy : it's a platformer (fast paced in some levels) that is easy to learn and hard to master, and the levels quickly get tough and full of traps on every corner. In each world, there are 8 levels of three different kinds :
- The exploration levels, where you can take your time to find all the collectibles (and some are REALLY well hidden), and save the 3 hidden creatures. These levels always introduce smart puzzles and mechanisms.
- The race levels, in which you need to be fast to outrun the corrupted wave that chases you. In these levels, the collectibles are in plain sight but it's really difficult to get them all AND correctly do the platforming.
- The boss levels... well they are self explanatory! It's the final test to put your knowledge into practice, but if you went that far you should be well prepared to fight them.

Each world also has a hub called the "cocoon" where you can find a couple extra bonuses to unlock with what you've found, and also check your progress in every level.

As I mentioned earlier, the art direction is outstanding as usual with the Ankama studios. They have a unique art style that is easily identifiable, and not only does the game provides a challenging gameplay (if you seek for the 100% completion, this will be hell on earth), but the gamplay is strenghtened by solid visuals.

As I'm writing this review, I'm not even halfway through the game (and I certainly did not 100% all the levels I completed so far), so I would guess FLY'N is a good 10-20h of gameplay depending on what level your dedication to collect everything is. :)

I bought Ah, Love! out of curiosity, and a game that costs less than 1€ is a fairly good selling argument, right?

It doesn't have stunning graphics, but it offers a solid proof of concept, that has never been seen before to my knowledge. At first, it looks like another tile-sliding puzzle, and it's exactly what it is. However, it adds a simple mechanic that turns it into a whole different experience :
The tiles are different pieces of a maze with two hearts, a pink one and a blue one, symbolizing two lovers that must be reunited. But the lovers are automatically attracted to each other : you can only control them by moving the tiles themselves.

It's as simple as that, it's a brilliant idea on paper, and the result is surprisingly good.
Ah, Love! will make you think in a way you're probably not used to, at least before you start to understand how it works. All levels are handmade and they appear to be well designed : there's usually one unique path to take to beat a level, but you'll first need to fiddle around and move the tiles to see which one fit with another.

There are a lot of different new mechanics introduced at the beginning of the game, which is an excellent thing in a puzzle game. From level 50 and on, I felt like there was a nice variety in the level design. There's a few surprising ideas later on.
The gameplay itself is very addictive, and for the price it's all that matters.

In the end, I bought Ah, Love! to support the developer, because it's a very promising puzzle-game, and I have no doubt with some extra work he will come up with new original ideas in the future. I hope this honest review can help.

[Edit 02/2019] : The developer has updated the game with enhanced art and visuals as well as a better menu to keep track of the optional objectives. I can't recommend it enough !

I'm not sure why this game is rated as "mixed" on the store. Sure, it's not perfect and there's room for improvement or extra content. But if there is a single thing that would make Lost Marbles deserve a positive rating, it's the very polished gameplay. The ball rolling is very smooth, controls are very responsive and there's barely any momentum (except for the metal ball, but it's very subtle) like you'd expect from a game like this. The result being an arcade experience that is very comfortable to pick up.

There's a total of 40 levels divided in 4 worlds.
The first 3 worlds (30 levels) aren't too hard puzzle-wise : they will make you think for a little while until you figure it out. In that, they are perfect for speedruns, and designed in such a way that they are funny to learn, memorize, and play as fast as you can. I'm really not a speedrunner, but this game seems to encourage it and makes the whole thing pretty fun to be honest.
The last world (10 levels) are harder, not only the puzzles but the platforming too. They will give you a nice challenge if you're more puzzle-oriented, and even more if you want to beat the par time.

Unlike other ball-rolling games, it doesn't try to copy the renowned "Ballance" from Atari, but has its own identity : the graphics (cell-shading and vibrant colours), the gameplay (arcade and time-trial), but also the mechanics (each ball has its pros and cons, as well as one special ability).

All these things make Lost Marbles nice, memorable game. Sadly, it's rarely on sale, and 10€ might be slightly expensive, but when it does have a discount, you can get it for almost nothing.

I would have loved to to play and enjoy this game. The controls remind me a bit of my favourite childhood game, Deep Fighter. Unfortunately, I could never run Retrovirus properly :
the game it fails to recognise your main graphic card, and instead, it uses the integrated card that comes with your computer. It it said to be a laptop related issue, but the problem remains with my desktop computer.

Released in 2013, this was never fixed to this day (despite "the issue being investigated"), but I simply cannot recommend the game for that reason. Now that Steam has a refund policy, you can try and get Retrovirus to see if it's handled correctly (I have no doubt this is a great game) and get your money back if it isn't.

[Edit] : The issue concerning the graphic card still exists, but there is a workaround with the Nvidia Control Panel. I have no idea if there are fixes with other card models.
Also the subtitles don't work correctly, sometimes they only display the last part of the dialogue, which is a bit of a bummer.
Other than that the game runs surprinsingly smoothly and the exploration aspect is a lot of fun. So far it seems like a nice shooter. I'm still leaving the negative rating because the problem still exists 10 years later.

Despite all the negative things that had been said about Hitman : Absolution, I can safely say that this is a great game. And that's from a guy who played Hitman ever since the Codename 47 era!

So, here's an honest review :

First, the graphics are REALLY good. It's the first thing that struck me when I first played it. For a 2012 game, they are more than decent, and I believe they still are for today's standards. Hitman : Absolution looks pretty AND it runs smoothly.
The light effects/lens flare and other reflections look great. See the screenshots from the store's page? Well, the actual game just looks like that. And speaking of visuals, I find Agent 47's face extremely well detailed and designed. They really nailed the character and you can read in his eyes how brilliant he is as a cold-blooded killer.

As for the gameplay, it's interesting to mention that NOT all levels contain targets to assassinate, which is one of the many reasons why the fanbase disliked Absolution. A good part of the game is made of rather classic action-stealth levels, where the only objective is "go through that area undetected". However, this isn't a reason to bash this game. It's clear the developers wanted to try something new, perhaps refresh the series that had been resting on its laurels for too long. And they managed to do it well. The levels are really well designed and amusing to play, with many diferent ways to get through.
Keep in mind that there's still a whole lot of levels with targets to eliminate in tons of different ways, so your average Hitman gameplay isn't absent from this title, by far.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1186093010

I enjoyed the story. In my opinion the plot was a bit weak in the previous games (apart from the first game), but this time they worked on a very polished storyline with wonderful cutscenes that almost watch like a movie. The voice acting is excellent (at least the french dub, which I played with).

The game length and replay value are excellent. The levels are numerous, and many of them contain several areas. You can count a good 15-20h to finish the campaign the first time, and roughly between 50h and 100h to unlock all challenges. You may add to this a fairly entertaining Contracts Mode which offers virtually endless content, and you will get the most replayable game of the franchise so far.

Finally, to mention at least a few negative points, I'd say that the PC version crashes, unfortunately, a bit frequently. It occurs when you restart a level too often, sometimes it just gets stuck on the loading screen, and you must close the game manually. It's a bit frustrating, but it wasn't gamebreaking. Apart from that, I didn't have any other problem with crashes and bugs.
Also the Contracts Mode page is ... a bit clucky. You can't erase contracts you've created, and they are featured in the "New contracts" only for a limited time until other players create theirs. There's a "Friends contracts" filter, but you can't sort them in any way, so they're all mixed there in random order. And that is annoying when you have a couple friends who made their own contracts.

Enough talking! If you read all the way down here, thank you for your time! If you want a solid game that gathers Hitman's famous assassination-sandbox levels, and a classic stealth experience, go for it. There's no reason why you'd regret it. It's amazing.

The games that really changed my life as a gamer can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and The Witness is one of them.

It is crazily hard to explain what's so extraordinarily ingenious about The Witness without revealing the core mechanics that you absolutely have to discover by yourself.

I'll mention what many others have already said before : The Witness isn't just an open world with puzzle screens on it. It's much more than that. Without revealing anything, the whole island itself was designed in a very special way, and the more you progress, the more you realise that the puzzle screens are just a mere appetiser before the main course...

The Witness managed to push the maze concept quite far enough to explore all its possibilities. It takes something as simple as a maze and turns it into a 50-hour worth of gameplay experience. It took me 54 hours to finish the game entirely without any hint or walkthrough (some people will say it's impossible, but it just requires a lot of dedication and self-control. Being familiar with challenging puzzles games and spacial orientation helps, too).
In some way, it's not as different as any other game (being "just an FPS" or "just a strategy game"... with enough gameplay mechanics to make it unique) but The Witness does it with the most simplest form of entertainment : lines and paths.

Graphically, I have nothing to add. If you watch the trailer, you'll understand what I'm talking about! In The Witness, you can stop wherever you want and face any direction, and you have the viewpoint of your life. Vibrant colours and natural environments are mixed with a true mastery of art direction, and I found myself just looking around and saying out loud "This is beautiful" at least a hundred times.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=892625953

And for those who would still doubt it, the game is totally worth its full price ! It will give you so much more than you would expect.

Well, this review is very short, because I believe a good review for this game has to be vague enough to intrigue. Special thanks to Jonathan Blow and his team for making this piece of art! It really holds a special place in my heart. Whenever he decides to develop another game, I'll buy it eyes closed no matter the price.

I would give anything to re-experience The Witness and be surprised again like the first time I played it.

I'm writing this short review (if you scroll down, you'll see I lied here) in hope to help the negative rating on the store page get slightly better, because this game is far from being bad.

Impulse! is a pretty sweet Visual Novel about an local rock band, that gets involved in a series of murders. You're Chris, the guitarist, and will try to solve the case with the help of your music buddies - Joe, Laura and Li.

- The story was surprisingly nice ! It's a teenage-thriller kind of plot, but with nice writing/dialogues, there's suspense and unexpected twists. The only weird thing is that the characters often react to the murders with a hint of disregard, which is quite weird at times, haha ("Ooooh, no. Not agaaaain ?").

- The characters are very charismatic in my opinion. At least I got attached to them easily. (Joe is so loveable, I was almost disappointed not to have a romance option with him. /GAY/ ) Oh, and that's a great thing about the story : it revolves more around the plot than the actual romance (you get to choose your relationship). Not that I mind romance, but most modern VN are JUST about that. It was refreshing and well-balanced.

- The voice acting is great ! All the actors did a great job to embody their characters. (Well "embody" with their voice your know. Is there a word for that, I don't have a clue). Especially Chris and Jack ! They were cool.

- There are some cool little interactions in the game, like searching for clues, questioning, or debating with your friends. Not to much, I wish there was more of those to make the game a bit more puzzle-like, but it was a nice addition!

- The artwork is pretty, and characters are very well drawn! This is a very positive point. It was very pleasant to look at.

- There's a few little bugs that weren't gamebreaking, such as the quick-save feature that doesn't work as intended (but your can manually save), or the "Skip" button (which can be replaced by clicking twice).

- The only negative point I could mention would be the soundtrack. For a Visual Novel whose theme is music and rock band... I found the tracks to be quite weak. Some are fine, especially the soft background music your hear through the whole story (cool bass lines to find there!), but the songs you hear while the band Impulse! is playing on stage sound like the usual band practice session between young teenagers, with no identity whatsoever. I'm feeling sorry to have to say that, because the music was probably composed with a lot of attention from the developer, but I would have expected something much better for a music story.

Sure it's not perfect, but it's a solid Visual Novel in my opinion. At least is one of the few I could read through 'til the end without being bored !

Hyper Bounce Blast is the latest game from Flump Studios, which you may have heard of from their successful titles, such as Horizon Shift.

Always faithful to the genre, Hyper Bounce Blast is a sweet and delicious homage to the 80-90's Shm'up wave, and it succeeds wonderfully in offering unique gameplay mechanics.

You're controlling a bouncing ship with the ability to wall jump and bounce on the ennemies.
As long as you're in the air, you're entirely invincible from every form of threat. But if you land on the ground, you'll be vunerable ! As compensation, you will also get to collect the points from the kills you've just made. And if you reach the ceiling, you will bank your chain.

And that is what the game is mostly about. You need to focus either on jumping or shooting, or maybe both if you're awesome like that.

Oh, should I talk about the Hyper ? When your Hyper bar is full, you can release your full power, and give headaches to your ennemies by going BWAAAAAAAAAAAAH for a few seconds. This can save your life, really. And give you hell of a lot of points, secondarily, but make sure to activate it as close as you can from the top of the screen!

As usual, you have access to different game modes, each with their own leaderboards. While I do wish the game the success it deserves, I must admit I love the small community it currently gathers, just for the fact you can have a say with your scores, as modest as they are. It's way more rewarding than ending up in the 100th page of leaderboards, where nobody will ever find you again.

I found Hyper Bounce Blast graphically stunning, and it runs smoother than ever. Every new game from the Studios is yet another big step towards indie professionalism (careful not to go too far, or you'll get tired, Paul!), and I'm really excited to see what is next to come out of their magic hat of high-quality games.

Whether you're a retro gamer, shmup-lover, or simply someone who wants to discover that genre, I can only recommend Hyper Bounce Blast : it is made with passion, doubtlessly.

La Abadía del Crimen (The Abbey of Crime) is originally a game programmed in 1987 for Amstrad and PC platforms by Juan Delcán and Paco Menéndez. This Extensum version is an entirely free remake developed by Manuel Pazos and Daniel Celemín with improved graphics and a polished gameplay.
I haven't heard of the original game before that day, but I definitly loved this remake.

The Abbey of Crime is an adventure-exploration-puzzle game based on Eco's novel "The Name of The Rose".

Graphically stunning, the decor and the characters are very, VERY faithful to those of the book and the movie. The abbey itself has a similar layout as the one in the book, and all the monks, the abbot, William and Adso were designed to look like their movie's counterparts. How great is it to play with a pixelated Sean Connery ?

The abbay is huge, and you can explore it all by yourself during your free time. Throughout the game, there will be something to do in at least every room in the abbey, and there are some places that trigger dialogues, even though they aren't useful for completing the game. In that, the level design is splendid.

Like the book, the story takes place in 7 days, each day being divided in canonical hours (Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline, Night).
During daytime, you will have to pray and eat whenever you're asked to (Sext, Vespers) or you might be reprimanded. When that happens, your "Obsequium" bar empties, and when it's empty, you lose the game.
During night time, you're technically "free" to do what you need, but it's forbidden to get out of your cell at night, so you will need to avoid the patrolling abbot in the corridors. This part of the game is quite stressful, but very funny !

The medieval Soundtrack is brilliant. It adds a lot to the atmosphere, especially at night, when everything is dark and blurred.
It's really, really immersive !

The game itself is not really long to complete if you know exactly what to do, but you will find yourself wandering a lot, wondering what to do next. It's about 5-10 hours of playtime, I'd say. It's not "too" hard either, but it has its challenging moments (whether it's "Now, what should I do next?" or "God, the abbot's there, runawayrunawayrunaway")

If you like hidden gems, very-well designed, atmospheric stories and music, and overall, if you like The Name of the Rose, I highly recommend The Abbey of Crime Extensum ! It's free, you have no excuse !